Emerging from the laundry swamps and Lego wastelands to keep track of our own insanity.

Wednesday, January 22, 2014

Side Effects of Hosting a Russian Speaking Ukrainian Teenage Girl

1. Bieber. So much. And strangely I'm so defensive of him. I remember being wildly obsessed with the celebrity boys of my time and taking it as a personal insult when they were mocked or the subject of scandal. How much harder that would be to endure/ignore in this day when there are armies of people whose actual paid job is to mock, destroy, and dig up dirt on anyone with a semi-recognizable face, name, or affiliation. But more so, I defend because I know her story. I know how many people she has given her heart to and had it broken, discarded, or ignored. I hate to see another person in any capacity fail her.

2. Jars of pickles in my fridge: three. Each the size of a beagle. Pickled cucumbers with pickled tomatoes, pickled peppers, pickled rice with carrots and tomatoes. All delicious on a potato pancake.

3. Potato pancakes.

4. I will still eat chili, but I will always always always make a face and pretend to gag at the sight of it and approximately every 4th bite during it. And I will want more Cheeeeeps (chips).

6. News of Ukraine violence, unrest, etc cause physical pain in the chest region. Not just the immediate threat of harm, but the longer term quieter threats that unrest promise: Disrupted funding to orphanages. Disrupted processing of adoptions for the lucky few. Disruptions of visiting visas for those that apply for programs like our hosting agency. Disruptions of utilities and internet service which are provided to the orphanage by the state department. So much hinges on functionality.